Siem Reap: Students in Siem Reap have gone back to school. A total of 173 primary and secondary schools in the province have now been allowed to reopen. On Monday, 44 public secondary schools welcomed back their students. The Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport says it’s a test run before the rest of the province’s schools get the green light to go back to class.

Out of 82 secondary schools, 44 have been approved and reopened on Monday. At the primary level, Siem Reap has a total of 514. 129 of them will reopen on Wednesday.

Siem Reap Deputy Governor, Pov Piseth, says they went through several stages of inspection and evaluation before giving permits for reopening. Piseth is also the Permanent Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Monitoring and Evaluating the Reopening of Provincial Public and Private Educational Institutions. Their committee is being chaired by Provincial Governor, Tea Seiha.

Piseth says the decision follows the recommendation of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. They started in low-risk districts. Eight were identified as low-risk for Covid-19. Provincial Director of the Department of Education, Youth and Sport, Ly Bunna, says that teachers and school personnel were all tested for Covid-19 before the reopening. Students were also vaccinated.

She has added that they are fully prepared for the reopening and that going back to face-to-face classes still has a maximum capacity of 15 students per class, as instructed by the Ministry of Education. Apart from preparing teachers, parents are also being urged to monitor the health of their children as they go back to school.